FOOTBALL TEAMS READY FOR RIVALRY
Flames and Tigers ready to rumble
Members of the Lodi and Tokay football teams met prior to their cross-town and Tri-City Athletic League regular season finale at Hubbard Field today.
Four items were present at this particular get together — the city championship trophy, a football, each school’s respective helmets and pizza.
Lodi coach George Duenas and Tokay coach Michael Holst, and each bringing some of their assistant coaches and players, met at Tony’s Pizzeria on Wednesday in a first-ever football luncheon. Members of each school’s administration were also present at the eatery.
Today’s game will be played at Tokay’s Hubbard Field. Kickoff is slated for 7:15 p.m.
“We want to make this game our game,” Duenas said. “Two true public schools. We want this game to be more popular. It’s a unique rivalry.”
All six TCAL schools are playing their rivals tonight. St.
Mary’s and Lincoln play at Alex G. Spanos Stadium on the Lincoln campus. West plays Tracy at the Bulldogs’ Wayne Schneider Stadium.
There is more at stake for both teams than bragging rights within the city limits for the next 366 days — 2020 is a leap year.
A win could give Lodi (1-3 in the TCAL, 5-4), which won last year’s game 42-8 at the Grape Bowl, a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth for the first time since the 2011 season when it went 5-6.
“The thing I like about the rivalry week is for our guys to go out and have a good showing,” Duenas said. “No matter the records are, I think both sides will come out hard. That’s what we want is a good, physical game (tonight).”
A win for Tokay (1-3 in the TCAL, 2-7) would mean the city championship trophy back to its campus. Plus, Tokay would end its season with a second win at its revamped on-campus stadium. The first win came against West 41-40 in a TCAL game on Oct. 11.
“We want to send our seniors out playing the best that we can play,” Holst said.
Time spent in breaking down game videos of the other, scouting reports and practices this week have both coaches hoping
that the pay off in a win for their respective teams.
“It’s been a stressful week,” Duenas said. “Outside the community, I don’t think it’s really stressful. We know that Tokay is going to come out and give us its best.”
Holst added, “Lodi has done a good job this year.”
On one side of the pizzeria, part of Duenas’ entourage were his defensive coordinator and brother JoJo Duenas, linemen Ethan Bronson and Jonas Latteri-Brown and quarterback Logan Stout.
Shifting to the other side of the eatery was Holst and assistant coaches Todd Dillon and Colin Rhoads, plus running back Joseph Filippini, quarterback Jacob Varney and lineman Ian Lerner.
Both teams have lived by the run game this season, mixed in with the passing game. Lodi is averaging 20.2 points per game and Tokay 13.7.
The Flames and Tigers’ top running backs are only juniors.
Lodi features the running talents of junior running back Christian Zamora, who has rushed for 1,059 yards and 13 touchdowns, plus Stout at 469 yards and eight combined touchdowns — rushing and passing.
“I have multiple guys who can run,” Duenas said. “We’re just going to see how they line up (tonight).”
Tokay counters with Filippini, who has 1,231 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns.
“In games we’ve been successful running the ball is because we’ve done a good job up front,” Holst said. “Joseph has had a real successful season.”
History of the Lodi-Tokay football rivalry
This is the second time in the history of the rivalry, which started in the early 1970s when Tokay opened its doors, that the game is being played outside of the Grape Bowl.
The 2010 edition of the game was played at Bear Creek’s Podesto Field, as the Grape Bowl was having its current turf field installed. In that non-league game, Lodi posted a 41-16 win. Lodi was a member of the San Joaquin Athletic Association and Tokay was in the TCAL. Lodi joined the TCAL in 2014.
Tonight’s game goes beyond the field. At the luncheon, Holst talked about there is a lot of connection of past players from both sides now part of the other’s side.
The list includes Dillon, who was the Lodi head coach for most of the 2000s until 2012. Colin Rhoads, who played on the 2010
Lodi football team, is now one of Holst’s assistant coaches.
Holst is a 2002 Tokay High graduate who played tight end and linebacker on the 2000 and 2001 Tokay football squads. Duenas is a 2006 Lodi High graduate who was a starting lineman on the 2005 Lodi squad that won the SJAA championship under Dillon and advanced into the second round of the D-I playoffs.
“There’s a lot of history, going back and forth,” Holst said.
Duenas added, “A lot of similarities here. We’ve got friends that we’ve played over there, coaching against each other.
Now that was the past. Today is about the present.
One thing about the LodiTokay game is that fans for each side can sit on one side. For most of this decade, all of the fans for both teams have had to sit on the home side of the Grape Bowl. The visitor’s side, which is the north side, is not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
“You’ve got a huge community,” Duenas said. “It’s going to feel different, too.”
Holst added, “When you have something of your own, it’s nice.”